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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Pan-myeloid Differentiation of Human Cord Blood Derived CD34+ Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells
Published on: August 9, 2019
Birthweight of full-term infants is associated with cord blood CD34+ cell concentration
P Aroviita1, K Teramo, V Hiilesmaa
1Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. pekka.aroviita@bts.redcross.fi
Aim:
CD34+ cell counts are used to define the haematopoietic stem cell potential of a given cord blood transplant. The aim was to test the hypothesis that high concentration of cord blood haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells could be a reflection of intrauterine growth, of which birthweight is an indicator.
Methods:
Simple and multiple regression analyses were applied to test cord blood bank data on 1368 infants for associations of selected obstetric factors and cellular contents of cord blood.
Results:
When groups were formed based on the extreme values (5th versus 95th percentiles) of a given variable, e.g. birthweight, the term infants having the highest birthweights were found to have statistically significantly higher median cord blood CD34+ cell concentrations. Also, infants in the top 50th percentile of relative birthweight had higher median CD34+ cell concentration than infants in the low 50th percentile. In multiple regression analysis, the correlation between birthweight and CD34+ cell concentration was statistically clearly significant. Notably, while an expected correlation between gestational age and nucleated cell concentration was found, there was no association between infant gestational age and CD34+ cell concentration.
Conclusion:
Haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells may reflect intrauterine growth and have a more central role in foetal development than has been reported earlier.
